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Detroit Red Wings are eager to see Moritz Seider in exhibitions: Here's why

TRAVERSE CITY — Moritz Seider impresses with his maturity and his swagger, balancing aplomb with self-awareness. He looks confident making plays with the puck and showcasing his mobility and his hockey sense.

Seider is one of the reasons there’s extra excitement at this year’s Detroit Red Wings training camp. He’s one of the team’s top defense prospects, a 6-foot-4, 207-pound teenager touted for his two-way game. It’s early — very early — but it’s impossible not to notice him.

“He has a lot of confidence with the puck, he’s one of those d-men who is an offensive-minded guy who you want to play with,” forward Taro Hirose said Saturday. “He’s not going to be dumping pucks, he’s going to be making plays and looking for you and that’s what you want in a d-man.”

Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman watches, as Moritz Seider puts on a jersey after being selected sixth overall in the first round of the NHL draft at Rogers Arena, June 21, 2019 in Vancouver.(Photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin, USA TODAY Sports)

The two were part of the group of young Wings who won last week’s prospects tournament. General manager Steve Yzerman selected Seider sixth overall in June’s draft, seeing the big German defenseman who shoots right as a key addition to the rebuild.

He impressed that night when he went to the Wings’ suite and easily conversed with Yzerman and coach Jeff Blashill while also serving as translator for his parents, who don’t speak much English.

“He’s a very mature person for sure,” Blashill said. “You can tell he’s comfortable in his own skin. Those are the guys that have true self-confidence. He carries himself with a moxie. He’s got a leadership pied-piper to him where guys the same age want to follow him around. He’s got lots of real good qualities. I think he’s a real good prospect.”

The team is eager to see how Seider fares during exhibition season. When team personnel scouted him in May at the IIHF world championship, he played a conservative game. Is that what they’ll see when he goes up against NHL veterans? Or will they also see his aggressive side?

“He’s got real good instincts,” Blashill said. “Real good brain. Can move, he’s big ... I’ve gotten to see him in different settings. At the men’s worlds, he was super safe. At the prospects tournament, he was super aggressive offensively. It’s a real positive that he’s got that offensive touch, but let’s get him into games.

“He’s 18. That’s a real young age for a defenseman. I think he’s going to be a real good player, I just don’t know when."

Seider can be sent to Grand Rapids or Germany if he does not make the Detroit roster, but there are advantages to assigning him to the Griffins. He’d be a two-hour drive away instead of a transatlantic flight, making it easier to keep tabs on every aspect of his development, from on-ice performance to training to nutrition. Playing in the AHL would also help Seider acclimate to the smaller North American ice sheet.

Asked about the argument for keeping Seider close, Blashill parried. “I wanted to go to law school when I got done with college. I think I can make a strong argument for any place for him to play, to be dead honest with you.

“Certainly there’s arguments to play in North America; you could make arguments to play in Europe. Let’s watch him play in exhibition and see where he best fits in.”

In what little he has seen of Seider, veteran defenseman Patrik Nemeth said: “You can see he’s got the tools, for sure. He wants to make plays and he sees the ice pretty well. It’s going to be interesting to follow his development.”

Seider sounded as if he’d prefer to stay in North America. “It all depends where I can play the most and that’s probably in Grand Rapids if I’m not making the team," he said.

“I don’t really care about it that much where I’m staying next season, to be honest. I just want to become a better hockey player, a better person, and I don’t really care where that is.”

Seider spoke of how thankful he is to be around a veteran defenseman such as Trevor Daley, who is entering his 17th NHL season. He likes absorbing the knowledge the veterans share.

This has been a fun month for Seider, an exciting one, from joining pre-camp skates at LCA to attending his first football game at Michigan Stadium (“It was unbelievable, a great atmosphere.”). He’s eager to get the most out of everything, and that starts with himself.

“I’m 18, I can improve a lot of things,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I’m a prospect and I want to get better and I think I can do that in every situation on the ice, I can do a little bit better job.”